


99 red balloons

by honeyspider



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Happy Birthday Tony Stark!, Post-Hoco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2019-05-16 06:13:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14805881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeyspider/pseuds/honeyspider
Summary: What do you get the man who has everything? A day with his favorite spider, of course.





	99 red balloons

**Author's Note:**

> I know I'm a day late for Tony's birthday, but I got too emo thinking about how much I love Mr. Tony Stank and the Iron Family and I just couldn't finish this yesterday.

Tony sighed as he caught Pepper’s reflection in his screen. She stood in her pajamas, a camisole and little striped shorts, with her arms crossed over her chest.

He had been making an effort to go to bed with her at a normal time lately, he really had. Tonight, of all nights, though, Tony thought that he should get a pass. He just wanted to keep himself up as long as humanly possible and then sleep through a majority of the next day, his birthday.

He swiveled around in his chair and looked up at her through his lashes as she stepped up closer to him.

“Tony, -”

“I know, Pep, I know. I just – I used to party and drink my way through it, put on a happy face. I can’t do that anymore – I _won’t_ do that anymore – but I need _some_ way to get through it. I figure sleeping is better than being blacked out.”

Pepper nodded, having had years of experience cleaning up in the wake of his raucous parties. She had always seen through the guise of those parties being celebratory, knowing that they were just for show and that Tony was always really hurting inside on that day.

Once the Avengers existed, he seemed to actually enjoy the festivities a bit. Instead of surrounding himself with strangers that were only there for the free booze or a chance to hook up with him, he spent his birthdays having a more relaxed time with his friends and teammates. Those days were over now, though, and there was only a small list of people who Tony didn’t hate hearing the words “happy birthday” from – Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy.

She perched herself on his lap and used two fingers to gently move a tuft of hair that was flopped over his forehead. One corner of Tony’s mouth quirked upward as his eyes slid closed.

“You’re trying to get me to fall asleep, Miss Potts,” he muttered as she draped her arm around the back of his shoulders and continued running her fingers through his hair.

“Mm-hm,” she hummed in reply.

“That’s not very fair.”

Pepper brought up her other hand to rest on his cheek and Tony reopened his eyes.

“I’d let you tire yourself out down here and pretend like tomorrow isn’t happening if I could. I know you need that sometimes, but there is a fifteen year old boy who is going to be very disappointed if you’re asleep when he gets here.”

Tony’s eyebrows went up and Pepper swore she saw an actual, real-life sparkle in his eye. She held back the amused smile that desperately wanted to bloom across her face.

“Peter’s coming? For-for my -?”

“For your birthday, yes. I wasn’t supposed to tell you, but I figured that would be what would motivate you to actually be around tomorrow.”

Tony tried to play it nonchalant when he shrugged his shoulders and said, “Well, I wouldn’t want to disappoint the kid.”

Pepper pressed her lips to his forehead. “I know you wouldn’t. Let’s go to bed.”

* * *

Tony couldn’t remember the last time he had woken up _excited_ on his birthday. Undoubtedly, it hadn’t happened since he was younger than Peter. Pepper was already up and had showered without him, Tony noticed dejectedly with a slight pout as he saw the last bit of steam fading to the edges of their bathroom mirror.

He showered and was doing his hair when FRIDAY informed him he had an incoming call from Rhodey.

“Answer it, but make him think it’s gone to voicemail.”

FRIDAY sounded unsure, but said, “Alright, boss.”

The AI played a beep and Rhodey started, thinking that he was leaving his best friend a message.

“ _Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Tones-y, happy birthday to you.”_

Tony smiled as he listened to Rhodey sing, a sound he always loved but didn’t hear as often as he would have liked to.

“Sorry I can’t be there today, Tony, but you and I will go out to dinner when I get back,” Rhodey continued in his speaking voice, “I love you, man.”

“Love you, too, Rho,” Tony finally chimed in.

Rhodey groaned. “Oh, goddamnit, Tony.”

Tony laughed. “What? You wouldn’t have sang to me if it wasn’t a voicemail. Why are you so embarrassed of your angelic pipes?”

“I hate you. Happy birthday, asshole.”

“Thank you. I’ll make our dinner reservation for next Thursday.”

“It better be that French place in Manhattan that I like.”

“I’m sorry, I thought this dinner was for _my_ birthday?”

“Nope, not anymore.”

After finishing the call, Tony had FRIDAY make the reservation. He finished getting dressed and headed downstairs to find Pepper in the kitchen, reading emails with her cup of coffee.

“You’re up earlier than I expected,” she commented as he came up to kiss the top of her head.

“Well, someone very loving convinced me to go to bed at a reasonable hour and I actually got a good night’s sleep.”

“ _Or_ you’re just excited that Peter’s going to be here,” Pepper teased. “I know you’ve missed him lately.”

Aunt May had been adamant that no spidering was to happen for the last two weeks of school so that Peter could study for and take his finals. She then took him on a little road trip to Connecticut following the end of the school year to get him out of the city for a little bit. Peter knew better than to argue with May when it came to her terms and conditions on when he could or could not be Spiderman, but he still hated the idea of leaving Queens unattended for so long. To ease the kid’s mind a bit, Tony had called in a favor and footed the bill for Kate Bishop to stay and watch Spiderman’s beloved borough for him.

Tony hadn’t seen Peter for nearly three weeks and the only brief communication they had had was Peter sending Tony a bitmoji of him throwing his textbooks in the air on the last day of school. So, yeah, maybe he did miss the kid…a little bit.

“It’s okay to admit it, you know,” Pepper told him. “It’s not going to hurt you.”

Tony just moved around the counter and fixed a cup of coffee for himself. Pepper followed, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind and resting her cheek on his shoulder.

“Happy birthday, Tony.”

He leaned his head against hers in reply. He didn’t have to say anything. Pepper knew.

* * *

Mr. Stark had seemingly thought of everything when he built the Avengers compound. The only thing he hadn’t thought of, Peter realized, was how to get a massive amount of balloons in through the front door. Peter was struggling to pull them all in behind him without dropping the cake, gift bag, and big folded banner he was also carrying.

“Oh, come on,” Happy muttered as he came up behind him. “We should’ve gone in through the airplane hangar. Who needs this many balloons? He’s a grown man.”

“Everyone,” Peter huffed as he tugged on the large balloon bouquet, “Likes. Balloons. Happy.”

Happy helped cram the balloons into the doorframe and Peter stumbled into the foyer. The boy steadied himself, concerned with keeping the pink bakery box he was holding from being jostled around too much.

They headed into the empty kitchen. There was a large communal room with a television, bar, and even a pool table, but Happy thought that would remind Tony too much of the old days with the Avengers, so he didn’t offer that space up to Peter for their festivities.

Peter set down the gift and cake and tied his mass of balloons to the back of a chair. He unfolded the banner he had brought and looked at Happy.

“Do you have any tape?”

“I – No. Why would I have tape?”

“I don’t know. It’s a thing people have.”

“Well, no one here has any. You’re a kid. If anyone here is gonna have tape, it would be you.”

Peter set his banner down on the counter and took his backpack off to start rifling through it. Before Happy could stop him, Peter had put on his web shooters and webbed the birthday banner to the ceiling.

“Wha- Why did you -? Oh, Pepper’s gonna kill me. She hates this stuff being around the house.”

Peter shrugged. “We didn’t have tape. I had to improvise.”

He then did the balloons, tying them where he could and webbing them where he couldn’t, much to Happy’s unhappiness. There was a mixture of red and gold, as well as several large foil ones that looked like the Iron Man mask. The banner was on red paper and had “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. STARK” on it in gold glitter. Ned had helped Peter with it, ecstatic to be making something that _Tony Stark_ would see.

Finally, Peter unboxed the cake. It was designed to look like an AC/DC album cover but said “TO/NY” instead. He was really proud of having chosen the perfect cake and Happy even looked impressed when he saw it.

Peter set the gift he had brought on the table next to the cake and looked at everything.

“You ready for him to come out?” Happy asked.

“I…I don’t know,” Peter replied, suddenly unsure of himself. “This is pretty silly, isn’t it? You’re right, he’s a grown man. He doesn’t want all this st-”

Happy put a hand on his shoulder, looking down at him with an unfamiliar but comforting sincerity. “He’s gonna love it, Peter.”

Finally, the boy nodded. “Okay, I’m ready.”

Happy texted Pepper, who shortly after was guiding Tony in with her hands over his eyes.

Peter, Happy, and Pepper silently counted to three between each other and Pepper removed her hands.

“Happy birthday, Mr. Stark!” Peter exclaimed, throwing his arms out.

For a moment, Tony didn’t say anything and Peter started to worry that he really did hate it after all.

“You…did all this…for me?” he finally asked, incredulously.

Peter shrugged. “I mean, it’s not as much as you deserve, but I told Miss Potts I wanted to do it all on my own, so…”

Tony went quiet again and the expression on his face was unreadable to Peter, but not to Happy and Pepper.

Happy nudged the kid and whispered, “If you still want that hug, now would be the time.”

Peter didn’t waste a second running up to Mr. Stark and wrapping his arms around him. It wasn’t immediate, but after a moment he felt the hug being returned. Peter caught Pepper’s eye over Tony’s shoulder and they shared a smile.

When they let go, Tony’s nose twitched and he had to clear his throat a little bit before he was able to say, “Thanks, Peter.”

“Open your present!” the boy ordered excitedly.

Tony went over to the table and pulled the tissue paper out of his gift bag. The first thing inside was a rolled-up shirt that he opened to reveal a Led Zeppelin design.

“I know it’s not the same one that caught on fire that day in the lab, but I found it at a thrift store and I thought you’d like it. Oh, and I washed it.”

Peter and Tony both winced when Pepper said, “I’m sorry, what was that about a fire? Tony, were you _in the shirt_ when it caught on fire?”

Peter had momentarily forgotten that, “ _The first rule of fire safety is: as long as Pepper doesn’t know about the fire, we have safety_ ”, according to Mr. Stark.

“I don’t think either of us want me to answer that question,” Tony responded.

Pepper sighed and squeezed the bridge of her nose. “You’re right. Just keep opening your present.”

Tony looked back inside the bag to find a small jewelry sized box. He opened it to find two silver cufflinks with little arc reactors on them.

“I made them in my metal shop class,” Peter said. “I, uh, you-you don’t have to wear them. I’m sure you have better ones. I-I just -”

Peter stopped talking, feeling his face flush incredibly hot. He looked like one of the red balloons that decorated the room.

“Peter,” Tony said, placing a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “I love them.”

The kid looked like he was going to burst. “Really?!”

“Of course I do. You made them for me. Thank you.”

Tony pulled Peter against him for a second hug and _holy shit_ this was the best day of Peter’s life.

They cut into the cake next and the four sat around talking while they ate. Peter told them all about his trip with Aunt May and what things he and Ned wanted to do over summer break. Tony told him after they finished eating they could go check out the new upgrades to Spiderman suit he had done since the last time Peter had been around. Peter immediately started shoveling cake into his mouth faster and cleaned everyone’s dishes afterwards.

* * *

Tony and Peter went to the lab and Tony showed him the new web shooter options he had come up with, uploading them into the suit so Peter could try them out.

“Whoa, these are so cool, Mr. Stark! I can’t wait to get back home and use them!”

“Do you want to go now?” Tony asked.

“What? No!” Peter said quickly. “It’s your birthday, Mr. Stark! I wanted to spend time with you.”

Tony nodded. “Yeah, it’s _my_ birthday and I want to spend it with Spiderman. It’s been a while since I stopped a bicycle thief or helped a kitten out of a tree. It’ll be fun.”

“You…you’re gonna come with me? Iron Man and Spiderman out together?”

Tony led Peter, who clumsily pulled on his Spiderman suit while walking, to where he stored his selection of Iron Man suits.

“Which one?”

Peter, now fully in his suit except for his mask, looked at Tony incredulously. _He_ got to choose which suit Iron Man wore that day? For a second Peter thought maybe there had been a mistake and it was actually _his_ birthday.

“That one,” Peter replied after looking at them all.

He picked a slightly older model that had a more classic Iron Man look to it. It wasn’t low-tech by any means, but it wasn’t up-to-date with all of Tony’s bells and whistles.

“You sure?” Tony asked, somewhat surprised that that was Peter’s choice.

The boy shrugged. “We’re just going to Queens. Stopping bicycle thefts and helping kittens, like you said. We’re not fighting off an alien invasion.”

Tony opened the suit and stepped inside. “You better not have just jinxed us, kid.”

* * *

Spiderman hung from a web attached to Iron Man as they flew out of the tree-heavy area that the compound was in towards the skyscrapers of New York City.

“Mr. Stark, it’s like I’m on a zipline!” Tony heard Peter’s voice come in through his helmet.

He glanced down to see the young superhero having the time of his life dangling from the Iron Man suit, spreading his limbs out and then doing a Superman pose.

“Why don’t you pick some music for us, Spiderboy?”

Peter made a garbled noise and in a moment the unmistakable sound of synth pop filled both of their suits.

“Is this Nena?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, I got it in my head when I was buying your balloons earlier.”

“Do you even know what this song is about?”

“…Balloons? That are red?”

Tony sighed. “God, what do they teach you at that school?”

As they approached the city, Tony warned Peter to get ready to drop. Peter released the little web wings from his suit and used them to glide towards a rooftop, performing an unnecessary flip before landing on his feet.

“Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark! Did you see that?” Peter yelled through their comms as he started running, launching a web at the next building and swinging onto it.

“Just try to keep up, Spidey.”

“Okay! I’m right behind you!”

Hours later, they sat on a rooftop with a pizza between them. They had put out a small fire, helped an old blind woman cross the street, and stopped a bike messenger from getting hit by a car.

“Did you have a good birthday, Mr. Stark?” Peter asked between bites.

Tony smiled. “Yeah, I really did.”


End file.
